2023 Nigeria Decides
Chief Of Staff: Silent War In Tinubu’s Camp Stops Gbajabiamila
Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila has been ruled out of the job of Chief of Staff, the most influential job in the coming Bola Tinubu administration, sources close to insiders within the camp of the president-elect have disclosed.
Though Speaker Gbajabiamila had been mentioned as one of the most favoured given his exposure and unflinching loyalty, sources say that the camp of the coming First Lady, Senator Remi Tinubu is seriously opposed to him on account of a long-standing feud running from the 2019 campaign season.
A source revealed that the two camps within the Tinubu political family became estranged when Gbajabiamila took the ascendancy over the campaign in 2019 for Senator Remi Tinubu to emerge as Deputy President of the Senate.
With both of them representing Lagos it became untenable for the two of them to occupy the two offices. The camp of Remi Tinubu was said to have been peeved that the robust campaign by the Gbajabiamila camp overshadowed the Deputy Senate Presidency aspiration of the now incoming First Lady.
“That beef was what led to the fencing off of Gbajabiamila from his initial interest in replacing madam in the Lagos Central Senate seat in 2023,” a source familiar with the development told GWG.ng
Gbajabiamila was left to contend for re-election to the House of Representatives from Surulere.
However, he is like his immediate predecessor as speaker, Yakubu Dogara consigned to the backseat in the 360 House from June 2023 on account of the emergence of the president-elect from the Southwest.
The new permutation is that the speaker is likely to be zoned to the Northwest. While some had speculated that Speaker Gbajabiamila was already doing the work of Chief of Staff, the sources affirm that the quiet beef from the 2019 election season has polluted his prospects.
GWG.ng reports that among those now being speculated in the front seat for the job is the immediate past governor of Osun State, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola.
Others mentioned besides Gbajabiamila for the chief of staff include Babatunde Fashola who played a similar role in Governor Tinubu’s administration in Lagos and Pius Akinyerule. Akinyerule’s prospects are, however, blighted by age.
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